After a six-month stagnation due to coronavirus pandemic, football finally returns in the country as Bangladesh lock horns with Nepal in an international friendly match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Friday. The match is scheduled to start at 5:00 pm.
Bangladeshi football enthusiast were waiting for this moment for a long time as international match will be returning to the country after 8 months.
The second of two-match 'Mujib Borsho FIFA International Football Series' 2020 between Bangladesh and Nepal will be held on November 17 in the same venue.
Ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifying matches, these friendlies will be the perfect warm up for both the sides. It is also the first match of the new Salahuddin era, who in his fourth reign as Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president, vowed to take Bangladesh above 150 in FIFA rankings.
Team Bangladesh are ready to face Nepal with their full strength squad, which means supporters are braced for thrilling encounter. Coronavirus have hit Nepal football team and as a result they could not bring their full-strength team in Dhaka after four of their main eleven players were infected by COVID-19. In this case Bangladesh will get some extra advantage.
The host will be in a better position in today’s match compared to Nepal because Nepal has come here after keeping their four or five main players while the Bangladesh team will take to the field with their full strength.
Match fitness was the main issue and concern for Bangladesh as players were out of actions for several months. However, after a near about three-week long training, head coach Jamie Day’s boys gained substantial enhancement both technically and tactically and are geared up to confront Nepal.
The similar thing also happened with the Nepal team. Nepalese players are also without football for months. They started their training session in their country twelve days ago before arriving in Dhaka on November 5.
Gone are the days when Bangladesh used to beat Nepal with ease. Matches between the two sides are now really competitive as Nepal made leaps and bounds in the FIFA ranking. They are now 15 places above Bangladesh in the ranking. The host won 12 times and lost six occasions against Nepal while the remaining one match ended in a 1-1 draw out of their last nineteen meeting.
Though in the last two matches against Nepal, Bangladesh lost both the occasions but Jamal Bhuyan and Co. will hope that the result would not hamper their performance in the today’s match rather they are upbeat to fight neck to neck to snatch a good result taking the home ground advantage.
Nepal will be looking for a fresh start having lost their last four matches, conceding 12 goals, an average of three a game. Bangladesh’s most recent fixture also ended in heavy defeat, a 0-3 loss at home to Burundi. The two sides last played each other back in 2018, where Nepal wound up 0-2 victors. With both sides suffering from leaky backlines and perhaps some rust having not taken to the field as a team in months, goals could well be on the menu in this match.